


Icebergs and Sandstorms

by myrifique



Category: Once Upon a Time (2011)
Genre: #Yulechat Challenge 2011, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-23
Updated: 2011-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-27 22:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrifique/pseuds/myrifique
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which David and Mary Margaret search for something real, but Snow White and Prince Charming don't have to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Icebergs and Sandstorms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [torigates](https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/gifts).



> Dear torigates, I started writing this treat pretty much right when you posted your letter, so it's been jossed to hell and back. (I think it goes AU after, like, 1x04 or something ridiculous like that.) Whatever, makeouts! Happy yuletide!

Emma had tagged along to Mary's daily visit of the hospital ward that day, saying something about bettering herself now that she worked for The Man. They hadn't been there for more than two minutes before a shrill voice interrupted them. "Emma, Emma!"

"Oh, great", said Emma under her breath. Neither of them needed to turn around to know who had arrived.

"I made a list of all the Alices in town", Henry said, still out of breath. "I'm assuming one of them is probably stuck in a really bad place, you know, drug-wise." He whispered the last few words, like he knew it was something he wasn't supposed to know about.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Drug-wise? That's a... wild interpretation of Wonderland," she said, throwing a quick look at Mary. Mary shrugged in response, with a half-smile that said "You're on your own".

"Please," Henry said, sounding both annoyed and a little bit annoying. "Do you really want to discuss the finer points of English literature, or do you want to go save a girl's life?"

"I doubt anyone's in danger right now, kid," Emma said. Henry looked crestfallen so she hastened to add "But, sure! Why not look into it."

They waved goodbye at Mary, who smiled softly as she went about her rounds.

"Hey," she heard someone say. She looked up from the bed she was tidying up and found herself face to face with David. To her dismay, she started blushing.

"Hi!" she said, too brightly, trying to cover her confusion. "What are you doing here? I thought you had gone home a while ago already. Everything all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks, it's just a check-up. Apparently I'm quite a puzzle to modern medicine," he said, grinning. "Nobody's quite convinced that fairy tales are the way to cure coma patients."

"Ah! Well, shows what they know," Mary answered, trying for levity.

David chuckled and so did Mary, a little nervously. He held her eyes for just a second too long, and she dropped her head, blushing.

"Listen, do you want to get a coffee or something? I just... feel better when I'm talking to you. Wow, that's intense, sorry," he cringed.

"No, it's fine," she replied, though her heart was beating quicker and it was decidedly not fine. "Just give me a couple of minutes to finish things here and we'll go."

He smiled and helped her out, tidying beds, watering plants. She tried not to notice his frown when she said goodbye to Doctor Whale.

\---

"Your usual, I suppose, Mary Margaret?" asked Ruby once they were seated.

"Yes, thank you," she replied.

"And what can I get you, handsome?" Ruby asked David.

"I’ll have what she’s having," he said. Mary raised an eyebrow in surprise and he shrugged as Ruby left for the kitchen. "I trust your taste."

Emma and Henry chose that moment to come in. "I'm certain it's her," Henry was saying. "She even has a striped cat!"

Emma rolled her eyes but spotted them halfway through, which made her look comical as she suddenly widened her eyes too. Mary smiled, a little unsure. Henry stopped talking to check out what Emma was looking at, and he started beaming too. David turned around. "We'll leave you alone!" said Henry - too fast, too loud. Emma and Mary both cringed, but David just laughed as they went.

"He's a cute kid," he said.

"Yes. A bit too imaginative for his own good, though," Mary replied.

Ruby came back and dropped two steaming mugs in front of them. "Cocoa! I knew I was right to trust you," said David.

"Yeah, you can say that again when we eat at the vegan restaurant across town."

"I can't wait," he laughed.

She wondered if it was a date. "So," she said, to shake the thought out. "How are you doing? How's living with Kathryn?"

"Weird," he sighed, though he was still smiling somehow. "There are pictures all over the house, trips we've been on, people we've met, birthdays we've celebrated... But nothing rings a bell. Not even the cute dog we apparently had a couple of years ago," he chuckles. "It all feels... fake. Though I know that's crazy," he adds quickly.

"Don't say that," Mary replied. "You've been through such an ordeal. Things will feel more real as you discover more about them."

"Right," he said.

He stopped talking and looked at her for a long time. "What?" she asked uneasily.

"Tell me something real," he said.

"Something- like what?"

"Like, you put cinnamon on your cocoa because you like feeling like it's Christmas all year long," he says with a smile, and her heart hammers in her chest. How did he _know_.

"Okay," she says, racking her brain for memories - something from her childhood, something safe. Nothing seems to come to mind, until - "My father had an apple orchard when I was a kid. Every year he used to fill my room with apple blossoms, even though I begged him not to, because I was afraid it'd mean less apples come fall. But somehow, come harvest season, there were always enough for me to eat. So much that I'd get sick," she smiles.

"Ah, yes. Apples, very dangerous, historically," he says.

And he's probably talking about Eve, but she thinks of Henry and his stories as she looks into his eyes. She fiddles with her ring and sighs.

\---

_"Do you ever wonder what would have happened, if we hadn't gotten married?" asked Snow, looking out the window._

_"As little as possible," answered James, writing at his desk._

_"Maybe if you had married your fancy princess, nobody would have a curse to worry about."_

_James stopped writing and looked up at her. She was clearly trying to sound like this wasn't a big deal to her, but he wasn't fooled. "Well, but then we wouldn't be together. I think that would be a curse in itself."_

_Snow smiled and looked truly relieved for a second, before going right back to teasing. "How very charming of you to say that."_

_"I'm never going to be able to say anything romantic to you without receiving that kind of comment, am I," he said, walking up to her._

_"I don't think so, but you're probably going to have to try again and again, just to make sure."_

_He smiled and cupped her face in his hands. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he said before kissing her._

_"Charming," she replied once their lips parted. "Although I should probably dock points for your usage of 'thing' when referring to your wife."_

_"I can't imagine ever being married to someone else than you, in this universe or any other. Icebergs or sandstorms," he grinned before kissing her again. She tried to stop the kiss after a moment, her eyes sparkling, but he felt the 'charming' on her lips and didn't let her get away. She didn't seem to mind, her hands tangling in his hair as he picked her up and twirled her around._

_Snow stopped kissing him suddenly and gasped. "She kicked!"_

_"She did?" James asked as he dropped her gently to the ground._

_"Yes! Here, feel," she added, placing his hand on her belly. "Evidently she likes it when I make fun of you."_

_"Her mother's daughter," James smiled, kissing Snow's forehead._

_"Princess Charming Junior," she answered, and then James felt his daughter move and both of them laughed._

_It was probably very Prince-Charming of him, but right at that moment, James felt pretty sure that what they had right now was stronger than any curse._


End file.
